More Articles

A fired state education official has pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of possession
of child pornography.

U.S. District Judge James L. Graham accepted the plea yesterday from John T. Childs, who was the
chief operating officer of the Ohio Department of Education until November.

Childs, 47, of Planetree Court on the Northwest Side, had been under investigation since last
summer after a law-enforcement task force traced 145 files of suspected child pornography to his
home computer. Investigators searched his home in October and seized his computer, flash drives, an
iPad and several guns.

He had worked for the state for 22 years, including eight years as the Education Department’s
chief financial officer. A department spokesman said Childs was paid $135,013 a year.

Although Childs could be sentenced to 10 years in prison, he agreed to plead guilty in exchange
for a six-month sentence. The plea deal he signed also would require him to register as a sex
offender and have monitoring software installed on his computer after his release from prison.

Graham has not decided whether he will accept the plea deal. A sentencing date has not been
set.